Parents and mis-information

 You have to trust the source. Take for instance my daughter. She doesn't trust me to teach her math. Now she asserts and is backed by others that teaching is something not everyone can do. I have to agree with some qualification.

While organizational skills, lesson planning and a working syllabus are necessary to teach a course; it is unnecessary to explain a single concept or problem. From years as a math tutor I can say that in order to explain a concept one must thoroughly understand it.

What is often missed on the (her) part of the student is that work is required. I asserted to her that you would not expect a carpenter, mason or any other tradesman to work without a tape measure. So why then say to me "I do not like graphing." Graph 2 points and define the line. The solution to where two lines meet is often as easy to solve graphically as any other method. (Yes, I did assume they were in the same plane.) Parabolas, ellipses, circles... it matters not we can represent them and solve most questions (probably enough of them to at least pass) just graphing these things.

And it is so easy when you get to set the parameters. If I let x=0 and solve for y; then reverse that usually that yields at least 3 graph points. A couple more easy ones and usually done. 

Trust me the work will pay off. It pays to dig a bit and verify especially these days. Years ago in a #Gentoo-chat channel someone commented that we were gaining so much information we would have trouble storing it at the current rate of expansion. My response was that we should be more worried about what we 'know' that is just flat ass wrong.

Recent events point this out to me very well as my own Mom who watches all the religious broadcasts faithfully swears to me 6 weeks before the presidential election that Biden will end Social Security. This while Trump makes the moves toward destabilizing the SSA. *SMDH*

 Stay safe out there. 

Is Calculus a waste of time?

To be fair about this let us give it a bit of context first. Since it was a conversation now several months old this perhaps could tell you how much it disturbed me.

The statement was "If you are an English major and literature your intended field; Calculus is a waste of time better spent on other subjects. If you never will use it no point in taking it."

From Which college-majors-need-calculus? via (theclassroom.com) 
you can add psychology and economics to the list that require it. It helps you to differentiate between science and bullshit.  If you want an MBA you need it too.

I don't recall using it on the job; but can say it helped learning to take larger problems and break them down in to smaller ones that can then be dealt with. It has helped me to impose order on the chaos (well some order). It gave me confidence and I get where if you could not do it ...it would deprive you of yours.

Hard to ignore the future when you have studied time as a variable. Chess anyone? How many moves ahead can you see? If we were just going to do the easy things, would we learn to solve a Rubiks cube?

If we avoid the difficult does that lead us to a better life? Or perhaps ignorance truly is bliss.